Auto Racing 2026
- Thread starter dfergie
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 159
- Views 3K
Advertisements
Despite the doom-to-gloom prognostications, across all classes the practice sessions, qualifying, and races, virtually every thing went off without a hitch. By every measurable metric, it was both an amazing and completely successful day, particularly given Jeff Gordon's IROC dominance and performance. Tomorrow should be fun.
Note to Buxton, it is best not to make references to the Civil War while at an event celebrating the nation's Declaration of Independence. It'd be like Celebrating England and bringing up the Battle of Hastings.
Markham had quite a bit of great drama for the practice qualifying, but the racing fell flat. Same thing is lining up here. The issue is going to be the passing. There are very very wide straights, but the bumps are going to limit the lines entering into turns. And with this being 147 laps, if passing can't happen, it could be devastatingly boring. The opening lap is up in the air. The drivers "behaved" at Markham, but again, the bumps put in a wildcard regarding someone just losing their car at random with too many other cars around them. Also, that exit out of the pits is something else.
There could be intrigue with several pit strategies. We'll see. The weather is clear and warm, but not super hot. Drivers will feel it though with the race length, which could get worse if there are a bunch of yellows. I'm kind of pulling for Grosjean winning, a French man to represent who helped the US claim their Independence.
It rained a lot, just not directly in DC. That was luck.
Markham had quite a bit of great drama for the practice qualifying, but the racing fell flat. Same thing is lining up here. The issue is going to be the passing. There are very very wide straights, but the bumps are going to limit the lines entering into turns. And with this being 147 laps, if passing can't happen, it could be devastatingly boring. The opening lap is up in the air. The drivers "behaved" at Markham, but again, the bumps put in a wildcard regarding someone just losing their car at random with too many other cars around them. Also, that exit out of the pits is something else.
There could be intrigue with several pit strategies. We'll see. The weather is clear and warm, but not super hot. Drivers will feel it though with the race length, which could get worse if there are a bunch of yellows. I'm kind of pulling for Grosjean winning, a French man to represent who helped the US claim their Independence.
As it turned out, the forecasted rain was a completely nonexistent factor during the weekend as absolutely all of the races were exciting and competitive.
The setting was well beyond awesome, with virtually all participants expressing both their amazement with, and their appreciation of, the venue and their overall experience.
All in all, this was a very good racing weekend for all who appreciate the same.
The setting was well beyond awesome, with virtually all participants expressing both their amazement with, and their appreciation of, the venue and their overall experience.
All in all, this was a very good racing weekend for all who appreciate the same.
Sunday was always supposed to be dry. Saturday, the rain stayed to the SE, not that far away, but far enough away.
The course ended up being good enough. They really should have practiced on Friday, which would have allowed the pavement grinding to take place on Friday night (instead of the Saturday night pavement grinding... I know, I know, this is a family website) allowing a more decent Saturday racing experience. Passing wasn't impossible. What took a bite out of the race was Palou having a very un-Palou race (hits a tire in the pit, nudges the wall out of a turn causing a yellow!), leaving no one, absolutely no one left to challenge Kirkwood who had the course's cheat code. Racing distance was too long. I've never felt I was ready for a race to finish before. Because the race went from 4 to 3 stops (and again, virtually no alternative strategies), we were kind of stuck in a fuel save situation again. Part of me thinks they need to lessen the fuel capacity. And with fuel save, not much left was happening on the course. Drive in a circuit to wind down the lap total.
Race was tough for Dutch favoring fans, as Veekay went from super awesome circumstance to drowning tears in beers in about 7 minutes. Veekay was the first in the pit on the primary strategy. And then Dave Malukas smacks the turn one wall. Apparently, because Sting Ray Robb owes someone in Race Control money, a yellow isn't thrown out immediately... and Sting Ray Robb (human hairpin), takes turn one right into Malukas. Thankfully the speeds in that turn are "slow", but it is utterly unforgiveable how long it took that yellow to come out. Crashes at that speed aren't typically dangerous, but you don't entertain that type of crash. This was one of two accidents that appeared to wait for a second car to get involved in atypical positions before the yellow comes out. Oh wait... there was another point... Veekay just pitted. He started 17th (drives the 76 for numerologists out there) and now is in 1st... 2nd. Rahal didn't pit. Rahal is having a crap race already, he was half a lap down early. So, a simple pass on the restart and Veekay will be in 1st and in position to challenge for the podium, if not the race outright.
...wait... what... Rahal is taking his 1st place position seriously? I think this catches Veekay (and myself) by surprise. *Bleep!* Veekay is on the inside line (the line that will take McLaughlin out later on...*spoiler alert*). *BLEEP!* Rahal holds onto first and now Veekay is in bad shape. Not crashed, but it is like pinball and you missed the shot and the ball is bouncing randomly around, and you are panicking with the flippers. Veekay is dropping positions! Back to fourth or fifth. "Are you okay?" calls over the radio from the pit crew. No response. This sucks... but he is still in good position as long as nothing has broke in the ca... then Rasmussen's car flies into Veekay's in the turn and the 76 shots right into the wall. WT*BLEEP!!!* Maybe the damage isn't that bad, and he just has a fl... no the suspension is toast. Replay shows that Marcus Armstrong cooked it into the turn, punted Rasmussen which took out Veekay. Armstrong is accessed a pit penalty which included a 10 second hold. Armstrong is having an interesting season. Losing races he had a real chance at winning (Indy, Road America) and in other cases, brain farting like a champion.
So Veekay goes from effective first to DNF in less than a lap. OI! And it wasn't just the Dutch, the aliterated Danes too. Rasmussen qualified very well in a season that has been extremely poor for ECR as a whole. He was racing up front and lost any chance at a top 5 or 10 finish. Grosjean finished in 10th. And the second half of the season has seen a marked improvement for Will Power who saw another podium. Lundgaard was making it look like a race could have happened at the end, but then Kirkwood stopped fuel saving and the close finish disappeared.
The race on television? The commercials in the first half were relentless and the commentary at times was more forced than the Wienie 500. OMG! I'm also just tired of Buxton who might have a voice for racing, but he isn't Bob Jenkins. And Townsend Bell? Can they please find a couple others to be next to Hinchcliffe? There were a couple of things they missed. They were showing an overhead view, and O'Ward can be visibly seen missing a turn and entering the run off. They completely missed that. It also took them about right at the green flag to realize that Veekay was NOT on the alternate strategy. And the interview with a certain woman who knew nothing about cars or racing was for some reason, asked about racing, because she was a "big racing fan".
No, this race wasn't a religious experience (the Internet is so weird about this race), but things ended up going better than anticipated (pavement grinding likely helped, particularly in the opening lap). Lots of people apparently are unaware of how hard it is to get a race from scratch together in a couple years... forget seven months! Penske's organization did a phenomenal job putting the course together. Word is lines for food were crazy, but I didn't hear any complaints about bathrooms. They kept showing pictures of the fan zone, which usually had a good deal of people there... kind of implying that a lot of the people there weren't actually race fans. The street course also suffered the typical street course issues of not enough monitors and speakers around the course, leaving people to watch things through the fence, but not know what is happening. But even in Watkins Glen, the Boot has nothing like that either. The Scientologist-like supporters of this race, who swear to god this was bigger than Jesus want it to happen again. It cost an estimated $35 million to put together (ie, not going to happen again). The real trouble is that this isn't F1, and as much as I love Indycar, other than the 500, it won't draw the big money like F1 to pull off a race like this here.
So a good race, even if the Dutch driver sporting patriotic Dutch/French/Icelandic/USA/Croatian colors saw things hit a wall, quite literally.
The course ended up being good enough. They really should have practiced on Friday, which would have allowed the pavement grinding to take place on Friday night (instead of the Saturday night pavement grinding... I know, I know, this is a family website) allowing a more decent Saturday racing experience. Passing wasn't impossible. What took a bite out of the race was Palou having a very un-Palou race (hits a tire in the pit, nudges the wall out of a turn causing a yellow!), leaving no one, absolutely no one left to challenge Kirkwood who had the course's cheat code. Racing distance was too long. I've never felt I was ready for a race to finish before. Because the race went from 4 to 3 stops (and again, virtually no alternative strategies), we were kind of stuck in a fuel save situation again. Part of me thinks they need to lessen the fuel capacity. And with fuel save, not much left was happening on the course. Drive in a circuit to wind down the lap total.
Race was tough for Dutch favoring fans, as Veekay went from super awesome circumstance to drowning tears in beers in about 7 minutes. Veekay was the first in the pit on the primary strategy. And then Dave Malukas smacks the turn one wall. Apparently, because Sting Ray Robb owes someone in Race Control money, a yellow isn't thrown out immediately... and Sting Ray Robb (human hairpin), takes turn one right into Malukas. Thankfully the speeds in that turn are "slow", but it is utterly unforgiveable how long it took that yellow to come out. Crashes at that speed aren't typically dangerous, but you don't entertain that type of crash. This was one of two accidents that appeared to wait for a second car to get involved in atypical positions before the yellow comes out. Oh wait... there was another point... Veekay just pitted. He started 17th (drives the 76 for numerologists out there) and now is in 1st... 2nd. Rahal didn't pit. Rahal is having a crap race already, he was half a lap down early. So, a simple pass on the restart and Veekay will be in 1st and in position to challenge for the podium, if not the race outright.
...wait... what... Rahal is taking his 1st place position seriously? I think this catches Veekay (and myself) by surprise. *Bleep!* Veekay is on the inside line (the line that will take McLaughlin out later on...*spoiler alert*). *BLEEP!* Rahal holds onto first and now Veekay is in bad shape. Not crashed, but it is like pinball and you missed the shot and the ball is bouncing randomly around, and you are panicking with the flippers. Veekay is dropping positions! Back to fourth or fifth. "Are you okay?" calls over the radio from the pit crew. No response. This sucks... but he is still in good position as long as nothing has broke in the ca... then Rasmussen's car flies into Veekay's in the turn and the 76 shots right into the wall. WT*BLEEP!!!* Maybe the damage isn't that bad, and he just has a fl... no the suspension is toast. Replay shows that Marcus Armstrong cooked it into the turn, punted Rasmussen which took out Veekay. Armstrong is accessed a pit penalty which included a 10 second hold. Armstrong is having an interesting season. Losing races he had a real chance at winning (Indy, Road America) and in other cases, brain farting like a champion.
So Veekay goes from effective first to DNF in less than a lap. OI! And it wasn't just the Dutch, the aliterated Danes too. Rasmussen qualified very well in a season that has been extremely poor for ECR as a whole. He was racing up front and lost any chance at a top 5 or 10 finish. Grosjean finished in 10th. And the second half of the season has seen a marked improvement for Will Power who saw another podium. Lundgaard was making it look like a race could have happened at the end, but then Kirkwood stopped fuel saving and the close finish disappeared.
The race on television? The commercials in the first half were relentless and the commentary at times was more forced than the Wienie 500. OMG! I'm also just tired of Buxton who might have a voice for racing, but he isn't Bob Jenkins. And Townsend Bell? Can they please find a couple others to be next to Hinchcliffe? There were a couple of things they missed. They were showing an overhead view, and O'Ward can be visibly seen missing a turn and entering the run off. They completely missed that. It also took them about right at the green flag to realize that Veekay was NOT on the alternate strategy. And the interview with a certain woman who knew nothing about cars or racing was for some reason, asked about racing, because she was a "big racing fan".
No, this race wasn't a religious experience (the Internet is so weird about this race), but things ended up going better than anticipated (pavement grinding likely helped, particularly in the opening lap). Lots of people apparently are unaware of how hard it is to get a race from scratch together in a couple years... forget seven months! Penske's organization did a phenomenal job putting the course together. Word is lines for food were crazy, but I didn't hear any complaints about bathrooms. They kept showing pictures of the fan zone, which usually had a good deal of people there... kind of implying that a lot of the people there weren't actually race fans. The street course also suffered the typical street course issues of not enough monitors and speakers around the course, leaving people to watch things through the fence, but not know what is happening. But even in Watkins Glen, the Boot has nothing like that either. The Scientologist-like supporters of this race, who swear to god this was bigger than Jesus want it to happen again. It cost an estimated $35 million to put together (ie, not going to happen again). The real trouble is that this isn't F1, and as much as I love Indycar, other than the 500, it won't draw the big money like F1 to pull off a race like this here.
So a good race, even if the Dutch driver sporting patriotic Dutch/French/Icelandic/USA/Croatian colors saw things hit a wall, quite literally.
Time for ovals. Two races this weekend in Milwaukee. Practice today. Rain in forecast for Sunday, morning then later in afternoon.
If Kirkwood is to win the title, he needs to win out and Palou to bow out. Otherwise, a win for Palou will clinch the title. Five in six years, which is absurd. Malukus is looking for his first win. He is battling for second in the points, and has had a reserved, but not remotely disappointing season, topping both of his much greater experience teammates. But he needs a win.
Veekay will also be looking for a podium this weekend (two would be nice).
Rumors have Veekay standing pat with JHR which will become HR with Juncos being bought out and Lundgaard heading to Ganassi, as Arrow McLaren sell out for 500 victory.
Schumacher says he has a ride next year (Ganassi would be the dark horse) while Collet and Siegal remain in the air (Siegal has money) and Robb is looking at a nice career funding his rides in IMSA or GT. Robb could end up doing well in IMSA. The bar is just so high in Indy. Or Robb could just go ownership side and make HR into HRR and get a better driver in his seat. Collet really had shown the most promise to me. Hauger, it is hard to tell. Driving for Coyne can distort reality. He owned Indy NXT last season.
If Kirkwood is to win the title, he needs to win out and Palou to bow out. Otherwise, a win for Palou will clinch the title. Five in six years, which is absurd. Malukus is looking for his first win. He is battling for second in the points, and has had a reserved, but not remotely disappointing season, topping both of his much greater experience teammates. But he needs a win.
Veekay will also be looking for a podium this weekend (two would be nice).
Rumors have Veekay standing pat with JHR which will become HR with Juncos being bought out and Lundgaard heading to Ganassi, as Arrow McLaren sell out for 500 victory.
Schumacher says he has a ride next year (Ganassi would be the dark horse) while Collet and Siegal remain in the air (Siegal has money) and Robb is looking at a nice career funding his rides in IMSA or GT. Robb could end up doing well in IMSA. The bar is just so high in Indy. Or Robb could just go ownership side and make HR into HRR and get a better driver in his seat. Collet really had shown the most promise to me. Hauger, it is hard to tell. Driving for Coyne can distort reality. He owned Indy NXT last season.
Rain held off today, and we got some great oval racing. Veekay... continued the pace in Race 1 - Take Two. Pit stops kept sending him back a little and he'd work his way back up. In the end, Dixon, of all people, was slowing down McLaughlin, and Veekay boldly made a move and took 3rd place. It is funny how arbitrary distinctions matter so much. Fourth is very good, but third is on the podium and incredible. Race 1, Veekay started in 24th, finished in 3rd. JHR has some soul searching to do. They have up'd the game with the car, and now that they are fighting for podiums, they need to level up the pit crew performance. That was the reason Veekay did less well and finished 7th in Race 2.
O'Ward won both races (7th driver to win two races on same day, first since some Mears character in 1981), after apparently hitting the reset button on the car setup. Malukas was better positioned to win Race 1, but a power issue on the restart dogged him and that was that. DC turned out to be good, but today was what "awesome" actually looks like, and I'm not saying that because Veekay finished 3rd and 7th. There is a reason Milwaukee is still around, while other ovals have come and gone.
Palou played the 'don't DNF' card as his car "struggled", but it did enough to stay in front of Kirkwood who really failed to perform in Race 1. From the start he sank. Palou is only the second driver to win 4 titles in a row, the other being Bourdais, and to be fair Indycar wasn't quite as competitive in those days. Only Foyt has put up results like Palou has. Andretti is an asterisk because he went to F1, so Andretti's numbers would likely be better had he stayed in USAC. Palou is looking to be a multi-generational talent. It'd be great to see him in F1, but F1 is so political, we aren't even allowed to talk about at this web board except in The Pit.
And the guy is super-chill, very friendly, always smiling. I remember see him after the Mid-Ohio race two years ago, when he goofed up and finished second. Smiles to the fans in Paddock.
O'Ward won both races (7th driver to win two races on same day, first since some Mears character in 1981), after apparently hitting the reset button on the car setup. Malukas was better positioned to win Race 1, but a power issue on the restart dogged him and that was that. DC turned out to be good, but today was what "awesome" actually looks like, and I'm not saying that because Veekay finished 3rd and 7th. There is a reason Milwaukee is still around, while other ovals have come and gone.
Palou played the 'don't DNF' card as his car "struggled", but it did enough to stay in front of Kirkwood who really failed to perform in Race 1. From the start he sank. Palou is only the second driver to win 4 titles in a row, the other being Bourdais, and to be fair Indycar wasn't quite as competitive in those days. Only Foyt has put up results like Palou has. Andretti is an asterisk because he went to F1, so Andretti's numbers would likely be better had he stayed in USAC. Palou is looking to be a multi-generational talent. It'd be great to see him in F1, but F1 is so political, we aren't even allowed to talk about at this web board except in The Pit.
And the guy is super-chill, very friendly, always smiling. I remember see him after the Mid-Ohio race two years ago, when he goofed up and finished second. Smiles to the fans in Paddock.
One of the better F1 races I've ever seen this morning.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uptj3to1l7o
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uptj3to1l7o
Today is the anniversary of Dan Wheldon's passing at Las Vegas in a dreadful crash that luckily didn't take more drivers' lives. I vaguely remember the crash, but I more strongly remember Paul Tracy trying to keep it together as he left the Medical Center knowing that Dan most likely wasn't going to.
The safety in these vehicles is beyond incomprehensible, especially relative to what it was 60 years ago, when dying wasn't unexpected. But it is still very dangerous. I always scoff at the prayer invocations, but never scoff at the risks these drivers take and the emergency workers out there who might need to pull short of a miracle to save a driver's life.
The safety in these vehicles is beyond incomprehensible, especially relative to what it was 60 years ago, when dying wasn't unexpected. But it is still very dangerous. I always scoff at the prayer invocations, but never scoff at the risks these drivers take and the emergency workers out there who might need to pull short of a miracle to save a driver's life.
HBO Max has the live in car streaming without commercials, which provides an interesting take, but you are driving blind, knowing only what the team is telling the driver about what is happening on the track. The stages definitely ruin the NASCAR set up.
Similar threads
Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 2, Members: 0, Guests: 2)
Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 49)
- dfergie
- meStevo
- Yespage
- rgsatguys
- RaiderPower
- Foxbat
- harshness
- Elsguy
- waylew
- b4pjoe
- klang
- Mr Tony
- Ramy
- Howard Simmons
- reubenray
- Keith Brannen
- Redneck_Randy
- oscar22
- brice52
- TRG
- goodmi
- osu1991
- jsmit86
- bcwmachine
- dishstaller
- powerhouse1960
- bigg t
- herdfan
- pamajestic
- Lone Gunman
- TazMan258
- jorgek
- catamount
- Scott Greczkowski
- jamesjimcie
- telstar_1
- Juan
- nickp
- rvvaquero
- teachsac
- redd
- Altitudinous
- gms49ers
- Jimbo
- hwkn
- primestar31
- NASCARfan18
- derekbrady
- mrc54
